What Causes Precocious Puberty?

Increasing
numbers of children are growing up faster than they used to —
literally, through a condition called precocious puberty. This form of early
puberty means that the child's
body starts going through puberty at a much earlier age
than the norm: before the age of 8 in girls and before age 9 in boys. Experts
still aren't exactly sure why this happens; theories range from environmental exposure to
stress and depression. Here's more on the latest thinking around the causes of
precocious puberty.

Obesity and Precocious Puberty Risk

"Studies indicate that early signs of excess weight in children
contribute to earlier pubertal development," says Jennifer E. Dietrich,
MD, chief of pediatric and adolescent gynecology at Texas Children's Hospital
in Houston. The theory, she says, is
that a high body mass index (BMI) leads to earlier increases of the hormone
leptin, which appears to be involved in triggering the progression of puberty.
For example, in a study of 252 Korean girls, the girls experiencing
early puberty and precocious puberty were significantly more likely than other
girls to have a high body mass index.

Chemical Exposure and Hormones

The effect of household and environmental chemicals on puberty is still unclear. Recent studies on both pesticides and phthalates (a common ingredient in many plastics and cosmetics) showed that neither led to precocious puberty. But Pisit Pitukcheewanont, MD, clinical director of the pediatric bone program at the Center for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, believes more research is needed in this area. "There is some evidence that exposure to environmental chemicals may play a role," he says. "Endocrine disruptors are substances that interfere with the production, action, and elimination of natural hormones in the body that are responsible for normal development, behavior, fertility, and metabolism. Endocrine disruptors associated with precocious puberty include DDT, PCBs, phthalates, and bisphenol A."

Emotional Stress and Childhood Development

Physical or emotional stress
early in life — including small birth weight, disease in the mother
during pregnancy, or even the father's absence from the home — might
play a role in the development of precocious puberty, a recent study in the
European Journal of Endocrinology found. "It's not a well-studied phenomenon, but some
studies have suggested that excessive
stress in childhood is associated with early pubertal
development," Dietrich says, adding that some experts suggest it could be
related to our fight-or-flight response.

Depression and Precocious Puberty Risk

This
is another theory about precocious puberty related to emotional stress. Having
a parent or parents with depression might be a risk factor for or a cause of
early puberty. "It's not a direct relationship
for the patient," Dietrich says. "But it has been described in some studies
that when the parents had a diagnosis of depression, the development
of precocious puberty in the child was associated with it."

Ethnicity and Childhood Development

Experts
aren't exactly sure why, but it does seem that children of certain ethnic
backgrounds are more predisposed to developing precocious puberty than others. But
this may simply be because nonwhite children normally seem to go through
puberty earlier than white children. According to a review article on
precocious puberty, the average age of puberty was 10 1/2 for white girls, 10
for Hispanic girls, and 9 1/2 for black girls. The first signs in boys started
at age 10 for white and Hispanic boys and 9 for black boys.

But
early
puberty isn't the same as precocious puberty, which
carries health risks. "African-American girls seem to mature earlier than
Caucasians in the United States, but that does not mean they shouldn't be
evaluated appropriately if they have early signs of puberty," says David L.
Hill, MD, a pediatrician in private practice in North Carolina and author of
Dad to Dad: Parenting Like a
Pro.

Genetics and Early Puberty

Children
whose mothers or close relatives went through early
puberty were more likely to develop precocious puberty
themselves, a study of 178 children published in the European Journal
of Endocrinology found. "Some
causes of precocious puberty are linked to maternal pubertal responses,"
Dietrich says. "In addition, some peripheral causes, such as McCune-Albright
syndrome, may have associated mutations of G-proteins that cause the ovaries to
turn on, independent of the hypothalamic-pituitary hormones."

This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here.

Advertising Notice

This Site and third parties who place advertisements on this Site may collect and use information about
your visits to this Site and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of
interest to you. If you would like to obtain more information about these advertising practices and to make
choices about online behavioral advertising, please click here.